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NDE 4.0 in Railway Industry

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Handbook of Nondestructive Evaluation 4.0

Abstract

The performance and compliance of wheelsets and rails in service are extremely important, affecting the safety and comfort of passengers taking rail vehicles. To keep these key components safe, some NDT techniques are employed as requiring, which reflect the variety and advancement of NDE technology. This chapter provides an overview of the practice of NDE4.0 concept in cases of in-service wheelset and rail inspection. The chapter starts by presenting the tasks to be solved in railway inspection. Typical defects of wheels and rails are categorized into two types: noncompliant profiles and internal defects in materials. In response to such defects, various inspection and measurement techniques are introduced in this chapter. Moreover, railway inspection requires more than resolving the defects in isolation. The ultimate goal is to develop a full-lifecycle management system that is both economic and robust. Thus, this chapter introduces two macro case studies, using wheelsets and rails, respectively, to exemplify intelligent railway asset maintenance and management. Inspection mechanism that embodies the concept of Industry 4.0 technologies is incorporated into the asset maintenance schedules. With the help of data mining and artificial intelligence, trend analysis and critical point judgment of failures become possible. In this way, traditional NDT methods are empowered to meet both the safety and economic requirements of the railway asset management process. Finally, the chapter summarizes the current applications of NDE4.0 in railway full-lifecycle management. It points out the safety and economic benefits of NDE4.0 and puts forward specific expectations for the development and application of NDE4.0 technology in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

    Xiaorong Gao, Yu Zhang & Jianping Peng

Authors
  1. Xiaorong Gao
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  2. Yu Zhang
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  3. Jianping Peng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaorong Gao .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

    Norbert Meyendorf

  2. The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

    Nathan Ida

  3. Inspiring Next, Cromwell, CT, USA

    Ripi Singh

  4. Vrana GmbH, München, Germany

    Johannes Vrana

Section Editor information

  1. Chemical Materials and Bio Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

    Norbert Meyendorf

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

    Nathan Ida

  3. Inspiring Next, Plus4Pi LLC, Cromwell, CT, USA

    Ripi Singh

  4. Vrana GmbH, Rimsting, Deutschland, Deutschland

    Johannes Vrana

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Gao, X., Zhang, Y., Peng, J. (2021). NDE 4.0 in Railway Industry. In: Meyendorf, N., Ida, N., Singh, R., Vrana, J. (eds) Handbook of Nondestructive Evaluation 4.0. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48200-8_13-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48200-8_13-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-48200-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-48200-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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